Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Monkey Puzzle Tree... and a chocolate gobbling dog

I finally allowed myself to print out the script, running at 118 scenes and 87 pages. And yes, it's short which is great because I've realised the fun to be had out of re-writing comes when there is space to flesh scenes or characters out in tiny little ways as you polish. Though that only works when the script works as a whole... so I haven't started reading it yet!

Meanwhile my dog, Roxy trotted into the babysitter and my daughter with a large bar of dark chocolate - 70% proof - clamped proudly between her hairy jaws. Even when tempted away with chorizo, she managed to get the sausage and still guard the chocolate under her hot little belly but yes, it was finally rescued or she was rescued from it. Or so we thought...

Cue the back bedroom next morning. Very hungover friend called Jane. Snoring softly. Softly enough to make the blind flutter like an escaped convict.

What I hadn't known was that when we'd gone out was that Jane had left a handbag by the bed. Inside were various things of international importance... and four bars of same chocolate. Only now there was no chocolate in the bag and the floor was littered with infinitely small pieces of paper and foil. Absolutely NO trace of chocolate ever having been near either. It was as if the chocolate itself must have thought it dreamed it existed and now knew it was untrue.

Judging by the quantity of debris, my guess is that the bar Roxy brought downstairs was the fourth of these, and maybe she just got tired of binging on her own and wanted to continue her binge in company. BIG mistake. I'm sure there's a lesson for us all here... hoard your chocolate at a height? learn to enjoy your guilty pleasures away from babysitters and children?

But it's better than the time she managed to lock herself into the bathroom and ate most of the contents of the bin. And at least she doesn't eat poo like the last dog. (Yeah, it's amazing what you can become grateful for over the years!)

Why is it soooo much easier to write about a dog than to read a script or a novel you've just finished? Is it fear?

Just to Make You Smile

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About Lindsay Jane Sedgwick

A former journalist, Lindsay Jane Sedgwick is a versatile and imaginative writer who has had drama and children’s material broadcast on TV for RTE; the latest of which is the internationally award-winning PUNKY, an animated series first broadcast on RTEJr in May 2012. It sold globally, from New Zealand to the US to S. Korea and many territories in between. A second series launched in Feb2014. She is currently developing her new series WULFIE with Monster Entertainment and Media funding. rewriting an animation feature (with IFB support), waiting for her romantic drama, Perfect Man to be greenlit and working on a number of games as well as her own first game, DARA for children with autism and a live action TV comedy drama for Deadpan Productions.

She has also had a romantic comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, written numerous award winning one-act stage plays - 11 productions - and had four short films produced, the latest being the award-winning Barzakh which is currently on the festival circuit.

A one hour feature, KRISTINA, was filmed in the Philippines winning a Best Film award at Swansea on Sea International Film Festival while a second feature is due to go into production late summer 2014.

Graduate of the New York University ‘Gregory Peck Scriptwriting Course’, Dublin. Scholarship, 1993 (AA Distinction). MA Screenwriting from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1999, Lindsay teaches screenwriting in Dublin, script reads for independent producers, is a graduate of Screen Training Ireland’s ‘Writing Animation’, 2003 and attended Moonstone in 2002.